U.S. patent application number 12/124877 was filed with the patent office on 2008-12-18 for trade show information management.
Invention is credited to Kevin Gulley, Brendan T. McSheffrey, Christopher H. Valentine.
Application Number | 20080312946 12/124877 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 40133162 |
Filed Date | 2008-12-18 |
United States Patent
Application |
20080312946 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Valentine; Christopher H. ;
et al. |
December 18, 2008 |
TRADE SHOW INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
Abstract
Location-based technologies improve a trade show information
management. Attendees may benefit from real time, location-specific
feedback on trade show activities, aggregated exhibit ratings from
other participants, automated and semi-automated exchanges of
information with exhibitors, and so forth. Similarly, exhibitors
may benefit from improved flow of relevant foot traffic and
convenient registration of booth attendees. Trade show operators
may also benefit from improved costing of trade show floor space,
as well as enhanced opportunities to target related promotions.
Inventors: |
Valentine; Christopher H.;
(Marshfield, MA) ; McSheffrey; Brendan T.;
(Newton, MA) ; Gulley; Kevin; (Newton,
MA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
STRATEGIC PATENTS P.C..
C/O PORTFOLIOIP, P.O. BOX 52050
MINNEAPOLIS
MN
55402
US
|
Family ID: |
40133162 |
Appl. No.: |
12/124877 |
Filed: |
May 21, 2008 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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11568686 |
Jan 22, 2008 |
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PCT/US05/14711 |
May 2, 2005 |
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12124877 |
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60939202 |
May 21, 2007 |
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60567728 |
May 3, 2004 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
705/64 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 30/02 20130101;
G06Q 20/382 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/1 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 30/00 20060101
G06Q030/00 |
Claims
1. A method comprising: receiving personal information from a
registrant for a trade show that includes a plurality of
exhibitors; tracking a location of a registrant at a trade show
that includes a plurality of exhibitors based upon a location of a
wireless device carried by the registrant; identifying a nearest
one of the plurality of exhibitors based upon the location of the
registrant; and transmitting the nearest one of the plurality of
exhibitors to the wireless device for display on the wireless
device.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprising: receiving personal
information from the registrant during a registration for the trade
show; after transmitting the nearest one of the plurality of
exhibitors to the wireless device, receiving a selection of the
nearest one of the plurality of the exhibitors from the wireless
device; and in response to the selection, sharing the personal
information of the registrant with the nearest one of the plurality
of exhibitors.
3. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a selection
of the nearest one of the plurality of exhibitors from the wireless
device, and in response to the selection, transmitting information
about the exhibitor to the wireless device.
4. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a selection
of the nearest one of the plurality of exhibitors from the wireless
device, and in response to the selection, bookmarking the exhibitor
for subsequent retrieval by the registrant.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein bookmarking the exhibitor includes
providing a web site in which the registrant can review exhibitor
information after the trade show.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein tracking a location of the
wireless device includes detecting an explicit interaction between
the wireless device and one or more of an RFID tag reader and a
magnetic card reader.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein tracking a location of the
wireless device includes receiving location data from a GPS system
of the wireless device.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein tracking a location of the
wireless device includes analyzing one or more of cellular
infrastructure signals received by the wireless device and WiFi
signals received by the wireless device.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying a nearest one of the
plurality of exhibitors includes transmitting a group of candidate
exhibitors to the wireless device based upon proximity of
exhibitors to the location of the registrant and receiving a
selection of one of the group of candidate exhibitors from the
wireless device.
10. The method of claim 1 wherein the personal information includes
one or more of an age, a sex, an employer, a residential address,
an employer address, an income, a job title, and a preference of
the registrant.
11. A computer program product embodied on a computer readable
medium that, when executing on one or more computing devices,
performs the steps of: receiving personal information from a
registrant for a trade show that includes a plurality of
exhibitors; tracking a location of a registrant at a trade show
that includes a plurality of exhibitors based upon a location of a
wireless device carried by the registrant; identifying a nearest
one of the plurality of exhibitors based upon the location of the
registrant; and transmitting the nearest one of the plurality of
exhibitors to the wireless device for display on the wireless
device.
12. The computer program product of claim 11 further comprising
computer executable code that performs the steps of: receiving
personal information from the registrant during a registration for
the trade show; after transmitting the nearest one of the plurality
of exhibitors to the wireless device, receiving a selection of the
nearest one of the plurality of the exhibitors from the wireless
device; and in response to the selection, sharing the personal
information of the registrant with the nearest one of the plurality
of exhibitors.
13. The computer program product of claim 11 further comprising
computer executable code that performs the step of receiving a
selection of the nearest one of the plurality of exhibitors from
the wireless device, and in response to the selection, transmitting
information about the exhibitor to the wireless device.
14. The computer program product of claim 11 further comprising
computer executable code that performs the step of receiving a
selection of the nearest one of the plurality of exhibitors from
the wireless device, and in response to the selection, bookmarking
the exhibitor for subsequent retrieval by the registrant.
15. The computer program product of claim 11 wherein bookmarking
the exhibitor includes providing a web site in which the registrant
can review exhibitor information after the trade show.
16. The computer program product of claim 11 wherein tracking a
location of the wireless device includes detecting an explicit
interaction between the wireless device and one or more of an RFID
tag reader and a magnetic card reader.
17. The computer program product of claim 11 wherein tracking a
location of the wireless device includes receiving location data
from a GPS system of the wireless device.
18. The computer program product of claim 11 wherein tracking a
location of the wireless device includes analyzing one or more of
cellular infrastructure signals received by the wireless device and
WiFi signals received by the wireless device.
19. The computer program product of claim 11 wherein identifying a
nearest one of the plurality of exhibitors includes transmitting a
group of candidate exhibitors to the wireless device based upon
proximity of exhibitors to the location of the registrant and
receiving a selection of one of the group of candidate exhibitors
from the wireless device.
20. The computer program product of claim 11 wherein the personal
information includes one or more of an age, a sex, an employer, a
residential address, an employer address, an income, a job title,
and a preference of the registrant.
21-64. (canceled)
Description
RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. application Ser.
No. 60/939,202 filed on May 21, 2007. This application is also a
continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/568,686 filed
on Jan. 22, 2008, which application is an national application
under 35 U.S.C. .sctn. 371 of International App. No. PCT/U505/14711
filed on May 2, 2005, which application claims priority to U.S.
application Ser. No. 60/567,728 filed on May 3, 2004. All of the
foregoing applications are incorporated by reference herein in
their entirety.
BACKGROUND
[0002] 1. Field
[0003] This invention relates to management of trade show
information, and in particular to the use of location information
obtained from trade show attendees.
[0004] 2. Related Art
[0005] Information-based services have been created to assist with
managing trade shows and related information. These services cover
an array of trade-show related tasks such as tools for organizing
trade shows, registering attendees, and applying demographic
information and the like to attendees and exhibitors in order to
provide better information. In addition, location-based services
have been suggested to track attendee visits to various exhibitor
booths. However, there remains a need for improved use of
location-based services to improve exhibitor and attendee
experiences.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] A trade show information management system uses registrant
location data to support location-specific interactions during a
trade show, and enables reporting of trade show data correlated to
registrant locations and/or inferences that can be drawn from
registrant locations. Attendees may benefit from real time,
location-specific feedback on trade show activities, aggregated
exhibit ratings from other participants, automated and
semi-automated exchanges of information with exhibitors, and so
forth.
[0007] Similarly, exhibitors may benefit from improved flow of
relevant foot traffic, convenient registration of booth attendees,
and so forth. Trade show operators may also benefit from improved
costing of trade show floor space, as well as enhanced
opportunities to target promotions, generate (and sell)
location-based trade show data, and so forth.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES
[0008] The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the
invention will be appreciated more fully from the following further
description thereof, with reference to the accompanying drawings
wherein:
[0009] FIG. 1 depicts a trade show environment.
[0010] FIG. 2 depicts a multi-tiered tracking system.
[0011] FIG. 3 depicts a method for independent handling of personal
and anonymous data for trade show registrants.
[0012] FIG. 4 shows a wireless, location-aware device having
multiple positioning modalities.
[0013] FIG. 5 shows a process for real-time sharing of exhibit
ratings at a trade show.
[0014] FIG. 6 shows a process for augmenting location-based
services of a trade show information management system with
physical landmarks.
[0015] FIG. 7 shows a process for advertising based on viewer
locations.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0016] It will be understood that while the following detailed
description addresses a number of uses of location-based services
in a trade show environment, that the principles disclosed herein
may have broader applicability. In general, the systems and methods
described herein may be usefully employed in consumer shows,
professional conferences, and the like, or more generally, in any
venue hosting a large number of people and having one or more sites
of interest including, without limitation, stadiums, parks, zoos,
airports, train stations, museums, malls, and any other public or
private location. Thus, it will be understood that while trade
shows are described in detail, numerous other deployments of the
systems and methods below are possible, and are intended to fall
within the scope of this disclosure.
[0017] FIG. 1 depicts a trade show environment. The environment 100
includes a trade show floor 102 upon which a number of booths 104
are provided for exhibitors. A management system 105 may include
one or more wireless systems 106, one or more computers 108, and
one or more database systems 110. An attendee may carry one or more
wireless devices 112 that cooperate with the other systems within
the environment 100.
[0018] The trade show floor 102 may be any indoor, outdoor, or
indoor/outdoor space used for a trade show. As used herein, the
term "trade show" is intended to be interpreted broadly to include
a show for any industry, trade, professional group, interest group,
product type, and so forth, whether for purposes of marketing,
information, professional development or the like. As noted above,
while the following description relates to trade shows, the
principles of the systems and methods disclosed herein are more
generally applicable, and may be usefully applied, for example, at
a large amusement park, an indoor mall, or any other suitable
venue.
[0019] The booths 104 may include any structures, displays, or the
like suitable for a particular venue and/or trade show type. In
general, exhibitors may secure one or more booth locations prior to
a show, and during the show the exhibitors may use the space for
any desired display consistent with restrictions imposed by rules
of a trade show or a particular venue. As generally illustrated in
FIG. 1, booths may have different sizes and/or shapes, with fees
charged to exhibitors according to size, shape, location, utility
needs, and any other suitable parameters.
[0020] The wireless system(s) 106 may include a number of different
systems. For example, an indoor cellular system may be provided to
improve cellular phone coverage within an indoor environment.
Geolocation systems (using any of a number of different
technologies) may be installed to provide or enhance location-based
systems. Local data networks such as BlueTooth, WiFi, WiMax, and so
forth may be provided which may support a trade-show-area-network
and/or more general Internet and other data connectivity. RFID
networks may be supported for proximity detection. Infrared,
BlueTooth, or other short-range data networks may be supported
either at individual booths or at various convenient locations
within the trade show floor 102. Several specific examples of
wireless networks are provided below, however, it will be
understood that numerous suitable alternatives exist for most of
these wireless applications. All such wireless technologies
suitable for use with the systems described herein are intended to
fall within the scope of this disclosure. It will further be
understood that, while the wireless systems are depicted as a
single element outside the trade show floor 102, the wireless
systems 106 may include or consist entirely of various wireless
transceivers and related processing equipment distributed
throughout the floor 102 with any positioning and coverage
consistent with the intended application.
[0021] The computer(s) 108 may include servers and administrative
systems that support the various methods and systems described
below. By way of example, this may include gathering
pre-registration or registration data from attendees, processing
location and identity information during a trade show, managing
attendee sign-in, logging attendee traffic, receiving and
processing survey data and the like, providing a web interface for
trade show attendees, exhibitors, and management, and so forth. Any
computer devices and/or systems suitable for supporting the
applications described below may be employed as the computer(s) 108
depicted in FIG. 1.
[0022] The databases 110 may include any suitable data storage
facilities including XML databases, relational databases, or any
other memory storage device(s).
[0023] The wireless device 112 may include a number of different
devices, such as cellular phones, laptops, palmtop computers,
personal digital assistants, wireless e-mail clients, and so forth.
The wireless device 112 may employ one or more wireless
communications systems including without limitation cellular
systems, wireless networking systems, infrared systems, satellite
systems, and so forth. By way of example and not of limitation, the
wireless device 112 may communicate with a cellular network for
telephonic communications, a WiFi network for data communications,
a broadband data link for long-range data communications, a
BlueTooth network for local exchanges of data, an RFID network for
proximity and identification, a satellite network for
geopositioning, and so forth. It will also be understood that in
certain embodiments, some of which are explicitly described below,
an attendee's wireless device 112 may actually include two or more
wireless devices that cooperate to provide improved trade show
experiences.
[0024] It will be understood that each type of system may have
numerous technological embodiments. For example, cellular systems
refer generally to a number of analog and/or digital technologies
that provide voice and other communications links. Location data
may be obtained from GPS transceivers built into a device, or may
be obtained from a local location system installed within the trade
show environment, or may be inferred from other data such as
cellular phone signal strength (as analyzed by either the device or
one or more base stations communicating therewith) or wireless
network signal strength (which may be built into cellular phones
and other devices).
[0025] FIG. 2 depicts a multi-tiered tracking system. A booth 202
on a trade show floor 200 may have a number of exhibits 204, which
may provide general information or information specific to certain
products or services. In one aspect a system disclosed herein
includes multiple tracking modalities for multiple tracking
purposes. For example, in the exhibitor booth 202, the system may
track proximity to (and by inference, interest in) a particular
product 204 in a first tracking tier 206. This type of tracking may
require detailed resolution of an attendee's position (which may be
supported through a device 212 such as any of the tracking devices
described above), movement, and duration of stay to determine when
the attendee is displaying interest in the product 204. A second
tracking tier 208 may encompass an entire booth. This type of
tracking may rely simply on monitoring an attendee's transition
across a designated area such as an entry into the booth 202. A
third tier (not shown) may generally monitor an attendee's presence
in an area of the trade show using gross or average position from a
global trade show positioning system. A fourth tier may simply
register and attendee's presence at the trade show, such as by
monitoring entry and exit through designated locations. It will be
understood that each tier may be supported by a different
positioning modality appropriate for the type of location data
required. As noted above, product-level tracking may require
positioning with a few feet or tracking, which may be supported by
short-range, high-precision location systems or by a trade-show
wide or global positioning system where adequate resolution is
available. Presence at a booth or presence at the trade show, by
contrast, may simply require reliable detection of passage by or
through entrances. Area-level tracking, as another example, might
rely on a positioning system with moderate positional resolution
that has sufficient range to cover an entire trade show venue.
[0026] Boothmarking or other interest-measuring techniques, as
described in various embodiments below, may be adapted to such a
multi-tiered tracking system in a number of ways. In one aspect, a
user-initiated bookmark may automatically attach to the finest
grained tier available. This bookmark may also be registered at
other tracking levels as appropriate, such as to improve data
integrity or to permit post hoc re-characterization of a bookmark.
In another aspect, a message may be provided to a user that
requests selection of one of a number of available tiers (e.g.,
product, booth, area) for marking. It will be understood that
multi-level tracking in general and product-level tracking in
particular may be suitably adapted to other venues such as a
consumer show, a shopping venue (e.g., product, department, store,
mall), a sports event (including, e.g., overnight accommodations,
parking facilities, exhibits, food, and so forth.
[0027] Having described a general trade show environment and
technology infrastructure, a number of useful trade show
information systems and methods that may be deployed thereupon are
now discussed in greater detail. One skilled in the art will
readily appreciate that numerous useful combinations of the
following subject matter may be made without departing from the
spirit and scope of this disclosure.
[0028] FIG. 3 depicts a method for independent handling of personal
and anonymous data for trade show registrants. In embodiments, a
trade show information management system may independently handle
personalized and anonymous data for trade show attendees. In such
embodiments, each attendee may provide personal information (such
as name, age, address, place of employment, etc.) to the database
110 during a registration or pre-registration process. As the
attendee moves about the trade show floor 102, the computer 108 may
track attendee's location using, for example, geolocation
information available from the wireless device 112 (such as
obtained through a built-in GPS or other local positioning system)
and/or RFID data that registers attendee proximity to booths 104.
While anonymous (i.e., depersonalized) data for the attendee may
automatically be recorded in the database 110, the attendee may
optionally provide limited or full personal data at the attendee's
discretion. More generally, information sharing may be rule or
policy based. For example, an attendee may wish to share contact
information with every booth visited unless particularly indicated
otherwise during the visit. In general, an attendee may determine
whether and how information is shared on a booth-by-booth basis
while walking the trade show floor 102. At the same time, anonymous
data may be provided (either for free or for a fee) to exhibitors
including, e.g., number of visitors, median income of visitors,
aggregate profile statistics for visitors concerning occupation,
interests, and so forth. In addition, aggregated anonymous data may
be obtained and provided (again for free or for a fee) to other
third parties. In one aspect, each attendee may specify a number of
different profiles, such as a profile for sharing with individual
exhibitors, a profile for preparing aggregate data for exhibitors,
and a profile for preparing aggregate data for anyone else. Thus
there is disclosed herein a trade show information management
system that explicitly separates anonymous and personal data so
that attendees can control when and if personal data is released.
In another aspect, there is disclosed herein a single integrated
system for providing depersonalized data to a global data store
while releasing personal data on a booth-by-booth basis.
[0029] A process 300 for independent handling of personalized and
anonymous data may begin 302 with receiving personal information
from a registrant as shown in step 304. The personal information
may include an age, a sex, an employer, a residential address, an
employer address, an income, a job title, and one or more
preferences of the registrant, as well as any other information
useful for creating a profile of the registrant, targeting
communications (including advertisements, promotions, trade show
information, etc.) to the registrant, or otherwise supporting the
trade show information management systems and methods described
herein. Preferences may include contact preferences, areas of
interest, professional associations, and so forth. In general, the
personal information may be provided to the trade show information
management system using a variety of techniques. This may include
transferring data from a web-based registration procedure, copying
(either electronically or manually) information from a registration
form that is faxed, e-mailed, provided verbally, or otherwise
transmitted from a registrant.
[0030] During the registration procedure, a registrant may also
provide one or more rules for sharing personal information as shown
in step 306. This may include, for example, rules that control when
personal information is provided to an exhibitor. In this manner,
contact information or other personal information may be
automatically shared with specific exhibitors, or with exhibitors
meeting one or more user-defined criteria. This may also include,
for example, rules concerning what personal information may be
shared and what information may not be shared, along with
circumstances under which such sharing may take place. For example,
a registrant may allow unrestricted release of the registrant's
name and an electronic mail address, while prohibiting sharing of a
residential address. A registrant may also, for example, provide
data concerning personal information such as income, while
requiring that such information only be used in anonymous analysis
of aggregated data. An interface for receiving registrant data may
provide for highly granular sharing rules such as an item by item
selection of a share type (e.g., always, never, for anonymous use,
for exhibitor type `x`, not for exhibitor type `y`) or specific
inclusion/exclusion lists. The interface may also provide for
categorized rules relating to, e.g., contact information,
demographic information, professional experience, and so forth.
However gathered and expressed, the personal information and rules
may be stored in a trade show information management system for use
during a trade show.
[0031] As shown in step 308, during a trade show, a location of
each registrant may be tracked. In generally, tracking may be
performed through association of each registrant with a wireless
device, which may be any of the location-capable devices described
above. Thus, obtaining location data may include using a GPS
capability native to a wireless device carried by the registrant,
or obtaining location data may include obtaining the location data
using an RFID tag carried by the registrant. More generally, any
suitable location technology may be employed including any of the
location technologies described above, or other location
technologies, or any combination of the foregoing suitable for use
within a trade show venue.
[0032] Location reporting may occur at periodic intervals (e.g.,
every five seconds, every five minutes, every half-hour, and so
forth), with the frequency of reporting depending upon the intended
use for the location information resulting therefrom. Reporting may
be initiated by wireless devices, or through polling or some other
mechanism administered by a wireless infrastructure for a trade
show information management system. User-initiated reporting may
also, or instead, be used such as when a user requests
location-specific information or when a user engages in some other
interactive activity. Some examples are described in greater detail
below including bookmarking booths or locations, providing ratings
for exhibitors, and so forth. Exhibitors may pay for more detailed
time resolution information as a premium service, so that default
data collection occurs, e.g., every five minutes, but an exhibitor
can receive data with a resolution of one minute, thirty seconds,
or greater either for the exhibitor's booth or for a competitor's
booth, or for some combination of these.
[0033] In addition to acquiring location data from wireless
devices, the trade show information management system may determine
an implicit interest level for each exhibitor, such as by measuring
foot traffic, multiple visits, or any other location information
that suggests interest by registrants in each exhibit. This
implicit interest level data may be combined with explicit interest
level data based upon, e.g., recorded interactions, information
sharing, a release of contact information from a registrant to an
exhibitor, a request for information from a registrant to an
exhibitor, an exchange of contact information, a rating of an
exhibitor by a registrant, or other interactions between
registrants (such as through their wireless devices) and
exhibitors. This data may be employed when generating reports in
step 314 below, such as by creating an aggregate trade show report
that combines the implicit interest level data and the explicit
interest level data. The combination may include a side-by-side
comparison of explicit and implicit data, a weighting of one
according to the other, an averaging of the explicit and implicit
data, or any other comparison or combined presentation.
[0034] As shown in step 310, location data (however acquired) may
be employed to share information based upon location according to
the rules provided by the registrant. This may include automated
sharing that occurs without intervention from a registrant, or
manual sharing that occurs, e.g., when a registrant provides
appropriate inputs to the registrant's wireless device. Manual
sharing may, for example, include receiving a user instruction
(from a wireless device) at the trade show to share the personal
information of a registrant with one of the plurality of exhibitors
regardless of the one or more rules. Automated sharing may, for
example, include providing contact information to any exhibitor
whose booth a registrant visits for more than five minutes or any
other suitable interval (which may be defined by a registrant or by
an exhibitor). Similarly, a record of the booth visit may be stored
for the registrant so that after a trade show is completed, the
registrant can review attendance at various booths.
[0035] While automated sharing may be employed, a variety of manual
sharing techniques may also be usefully implemented, either with or
without a priori rules from a trade show registrant. For example,
location data such as received above may, either continuously or
upon explicit request to a wireless device, be used to identify a
nearest one of a plurality of exhibitors based upon a location of a
registrant (e.g., assuming the registrant is carrying or otherwise
near the device). The identity of this nearest exhibitor may be
transmitted to the wireless device for display, and the registrant
may select the exhibitor for sharing of personal information (which
may be limited in any manner desired by the registrant, either
manually or using predefined filters). In this context, the device
and trade show information management system may cooperate to
disambiguate among a plurality of candidate exhibitors. For
example, the trade show information management system may identify
and transmit to the device two, three, four, or more relatively
nearby exhibitors, and the registrant may explicitly select one of
the nearby exhibitors for information sharing. While proximity to
an exhibitor may be thus generally determined and disambiguated
using any of a variety of location systems, a nearest exhibitor may
also, or instead, be selected based upon an interaction with the
device, such as a geofencing interaction involving, e.g., swiping a
magnetic card, reading an RFID signal from the device using an RFID
reader, or so forth. In embodiments, such an interaction may also
authorize sharing of information with an exhibitor. In other
embodiments, such an interaction may not authorize sharing of
information, so that a registrant can still explicitly and
separately control sharing, e.g., after visiting a booth.
[0036] As shown in step 312, registrant data may be depersonalized
to provide anonymized data, i.e., data stripped of any
personalizing information that can be used to associate the data
with any particular individual or trade show registrant. In
general, this includes removing any data that identifies a
registrant, except perhaps for information used to uniquely
identify each registrant for purposes of further data analysis. For
example, this may include removal of time-based location data that
an exhibitor might employ to associate time and length of visits
with particular registrants.
[0037] As shown in step 314, aggregate data may be generated for
the trade show. This may include any data or report that can be
usefully fashioned from registrant location and interest data. For
example, this may include aggregate statistics such as average
visit length at a booth, number of unique visitors, and the like,
as well as comparative statistics such as other exhibits typically
visited by visitors at a booth, average visit length for other
exhibits at a trade show, and so forth.
[0038] In another aspect, the wireless device 112 may employ
multiple positioning modalities. For example, a device may employ
active or passive RFID for proximity detection or geo-fencing at
individual booths. Other technologies may be similarly employed to
register attendee visits, such as a magnetic card swipe with a
magnetic card reader, an infrared or Bluetooth data transmission
(either automatic or user-initiated), and so forth. At the same
time, the device may employ WiFi, ultra-low frequency, or cellular
signal data to obtain position information within the trade show
floor 102. While signal strength is one common technique for
triangulating or otherwise geometrically calculating position
(e.g., by determining relative or absolute distance from a number
of known locations), other techniques may also be employed. For
example, in one technique a measurement device traverses an area
while measuring signal strength from a number of sources. A vector
or fingerprint may be obtained for strength of some or all of the
available signals at a number of discrete locations within the
area. With this data, a current position may be determined by
taking a new measurement and using multi-dimensional Euclidean
distance, Mahalanobis distance, or some other similarity measure to
determine what previously measured position the current position
most closely corresponds to. As a significant advantage, this
technique compensates for the irregularities in signal propagation
that typically arise in indoor venues due to signal interference,
reflection, echo, and so forth. The device 112 may also or instead,
employ GPS to directly determine position, which information may be
shared with the management system 105 on a continuous, periodic, or
user-initiated basis.
[0039] In certain embodiments, the management system 105 may work
with existing devices owned by attendees. For example, an attendee
may bring a GPS-enabled cellular phone to the trade show, which may
provide GPS data to the management system 105 using the cellular
phone's SMS text messaging capability, while the cellular phone
signals are independently analyzed to obtain location data. In one
aspect, the cellular phone or other PCS device may be used to
access the database and may provide a user interface to the
management system 105, which may be an administrative interface or
an end-user interface or some combination of these.
[0040] In other embodiments, the device 112 may be a device
provided to the attendee upon registration. This approach has
numerous advantages. A multi-modal device may be used in numerous
different venues, so that a trade show manager can allocate device
inventory across a wider array of trade shows and the like. Each
multi-modal device may also have a unique identifier so that data
such as RFID proximity data can be correlated to a registered
attendee who received the device. As a further advantage, a
physical device can be returned at the end of a trade show as proof
of attendance, upon which conditional awards may be granted
including without limitation discounts, professional education
credits, loyalty program points, and so forth. Such a device may
take a number of forms including a key fob, a badge, a button, a
magnetic stripe or other wallet-sized card, and so forth. Larger
form factors may include a pager, pocket calculator, or the like.
In various embodiments, the device 112 may include a number of
buttons, a display, and so forth.
[0041] FIG. 4 shows a wireless, location-aware device having
multiple positioning modalities. The device 400, which may for
example be the wireless device 112 described above, may include a
location system 402, a geofence tracking system 408, a wireless
data interface 414, and a user interface 420 operating under
control of a processor 426, along with a memory 428 for storing
data, programs, and the like.
[0042] In general, the location system 402 may use any of the
technologies described above, such as a Global Positioning System,
a Radio Frequency Identification system (either active or passive),
or any other system for providing location-awareness to the device
400. Numerous technologies are known in the art and may also or
instead be suitably adapted to provide location awareness, such as
an analysis of cellular phone signals or use of fiducials or
beacons having any known location and/or relationship to device
position. In some embodiments, cellular phone signals, GPS, WiFi
signals, WiMax signals, Ultra-wideband (UWB), or the like may be
supplemented with transmitters positioned within a venue
specifically for augmenting resolution of location tracking. All
such variations that may be adapted to location of the device 400
for uses as described herein may be suitably employed, with the
required resolution depending in part upon the manner in which
position information is to be employed with specific applications.
The location system 402 may, in general, include one or more
antennas and related hardware to receive signals, process received
signals, and resolve signal data into a relative or absolute
position of the device 400, or otherwise determining a geographic
location of the device 400.
[0043] The geofence tracking system 408 may generally operate to
determine when the device 400 as entered or exited a geofenced
area. Numerous technologies may be employed for establishing
geofences, e.g., around booths, exhibits, conference rooms, dining
or other facilities, and so forth. This may include, for example,
include a radio signal system that detects proximity of the device
400 to a beacon or the like within, e.g., an exhibitor's booth. In
other embodiments, an explicit user activity such as waving the
device 400 over an RFID reader (e.g., where the device includes an
active or passive RFID tag, or a combination of these), a bar code
reader (e.g., where the device includes a bar code visible on an
exterior surface), a magnetic swipe card reader, or any other
suitable reader may be used to track the entrance and/or exit of
the device 400 into geofenced areas. Thus, a number of suitable
geofence infrastructures may be deployed to cooperate with the
geofence tracking system 408 and detect a presence of the device
400 at predetermined locations. Thus, a geofence infrastructure may
include one or more discrete checkpoints for tracking at least one
of ingress to and egress from one of the one or more predetermined
locations. It will be further understood that while the geofence
tracking system 408 is depicted as an element of the device 400, in
other embodiments, the geofence tracking system may include, or
consist exclusively of, systems external to the device. Thus for
example, a user may enter an alphanumeric code at a keypad, or
swipe a separate magnetic or bar coded card to explicitly enter
and/or exit a geofenced area, and this information may be captured
by an external geofence detection system for use with the systems
and methods described herein. In other embodiments, the location
system 402 may be employed to obtain a location of the device 400,
which can in turn be mapped by an external system such as the trade
show information management systems described herein to any number
of virtual geofences within a venue. All such variations that may
be employed to detect a presence of the device 400 at one or more
predetermined locations may be employed as a geofence tracking
system 408 as described herein.
[0044] The wireless data interface 414 generally supports data
communications between the device 400 and a trade show information
management system (not shown here, but generally described above),
and may without limitation include an interface to any of the
wireless data systems described above. The wireless data interface
414 may employ a WiFi interface, a WiMax interface, an
Ultra-wideband data interface, a cellular phone data interface, and
so forth. In general, the wireless data interface 414 serves to
support communications with the trade show information management
system, although other types of communication such as
device-to-device, device-to-cellular, and so forth, may similarly
be supported through the wireless data interface 414. The wireless
data interface 414 in general includes an antenna and supporting
hardware and processing to transceiver data over a suitable air
interface.
[0045] The user interface 420 may include any suitable combination
of interface components including outputs such as a display (e.g.,
LCD, LED, active matrix, etc.), one or more LED indicators, a
buzzer, a speaker, and the like, inputs such as a keypad, one or
more buttons, one or more switches, a touchpad, a thumbwheel, a
switch, and so forth. In embodiments, inputs and outputs may be
combined, such as using a touch screen or the like. The user
interface 420 generally includes hardware to drive outputs and
receive inputs under control of the processor 426.
[0046] The processor 426 may be a microprocessor, microcontroller,
programmable logic device, or any other semiconductor device or
combination of devices suitable for coordinating operation of the
device 400 and the components of the device 400 described herein,
along with suitable computer executable code therefore. The
processor 426 may also support other functions of the device 400.
For example, the processor 426 may evaluate a signal strength from
a plurality of sources (as detected, e.g., by the location system
402) and resolve the signal strength to a physical location of the
device. The processor 426 may include a memory 428 for storing
program information and the like. The memory 428 may also store
information for use in the systems and methods described herein.
For example, the memory 428 may store a unique identification
number that identifies the device 400 to a trade show information
management system. The memory 428 may also, or instead, store a log
of location data for the device 400, such as data that records a
(possibly time-stamped) path of the device 400 through a trade show
venue using, e.g., location data from the location system 402
and/or geofence data from the geofence tracking system 408.
[0047] As will be clear from the foregoing, in various embodiments,
the location system 402, the geofence tracking system 408, and the
wireless data interface 414 may include separate and distinct
hardware subsystems, or they may share one or more common
subsystems that serve multiple functions. For example, the location
system 402 may provide position information that is used in a
virtual geofencing system supported by the trade show information
management system. Or the wireless data interface 414 may provide
signal strength data for a plurality of base stations or other
transmitters that is used by the processor 426 to determine a
location of the device 400, or optionally that is transmitted to
the trade show information management system so that the trade show
information management system can calculate and record a position
of the device 400. All such variations are intended to fall within
the scope of this disclosure.
[0048] A device such as any of the location-aware devices described
above may be employed to enhance trade show information and
services to participants.
[0049] In one aspect, the device may be an attendee's own device,
such as a GPS-enabled cellular phone or wireless electronic mail
device. This device may transmit location information to the
management system 105 for numerous applications. For example, the
management system 105 may log an attendee's path through the trade
show for later review by the attendee. This service may be
employed, for example, along with an interactive map of the trade
show floor to recall booths visited, people met, and so forth. The
historical log may be available after the trade show, such as at a
secure web site for registered attendees, or where suitable media
capabilities are present, during the show while an attendee is
walking the trade show floor. This latter application may be
deployed at kiosks or other computer stations around the trade show
floor, or as a mobile application for use on mobile devices at the
trade show (or after the trade show).
[0050] In one aspect, two devices may be employed by a trade show
attendee. For example, a location-aware device such as a badge or
fob may be provided to a trade show attendee upon registration.
This device may track location during the trade show and provide
location data to the management system 105. The management system
105 may process the information and provide the information to the
attendee through a second device, such as a palmtop computer,
cellular phone, wireless electronic mail device or the like. Any
consumer device or the like may be employed, provided the device
has suitable wireless communication capability to communicate with
the management system 105 and suitable display capabilities to
display information to the attendee. Thus in one aspect there is a
system that includes a consumer wireless device, a location aware
device, and a management system 105 that processes location
information and returns information to a user on the consumer
wireless device. It will be understood that numerous variations are
possible. In one embodiment, the location aware device may
determine location and provide the information directly to the
consumer device using a short-range network technology such as
BlueTooth. The consumer device may in turn forward this information
to the management system 105, which may process the information and
provide location-related data back to the consumer device for
display to a user. This approach advantageously reduces hardware
requirements for the consumer device, and may be deployed so that
the location-aware device and/or management system 105 can be
flexibly used with a range of different consumer devices.
[0051] In another aspect, these functions may be integrated into a
single device, such as a sufficiently equipped consumer device, or
a location-aware device that includes suitable display and
communication capabilities.
[0052] In another aspect, an attendee's location information may be
shared (under the attendee's control) with one or more other
attendees. So for example, a group of friends or colleagues may
share one another's location information through the management
system 105 to facilitate meetings, group discussions, and the
like.
[0053] In one aspect, the device 400 may include a positioning
system that locally determines a position of the device 400 (and
thus a location of a registrant on a trade show floor) based upon
signal strength, geofence activity, or the like, along with a short
range wireless communication interface (such as USB, WiFi, or any
other suitable wireless interface described above) that transmits
the location to the trade show information management system. The
device may be a consumer electronic device such as a GPS-enabled
cellular phone.
[0054] The systems and methods described above may be usefully
deployed to provide attendee-controlled interaction with trade show
booths. For example, an attendee may visit a booth 104, and chose
to share a personal profile and contact information with the
exhibitor. Similarly, a representative for the booth exhibitor may
choose to share a personal profile and contact information with the
visitor. One or both of these data exchanges may be affected in the
database 110 through a one button operation that simply exposes the
relevant data, or creates a new entry containing the relevant data
for the intended recipient.
[0055] In another aspect, an attendee may use a similar mechanism
to record attendance at one or more presentations, which
information may be usefully employed, for example, to allocate
professional education credits or the like.
[0056] In another embodiment, a device (which may be any of the
location-aware and/or consumer devices described above) may be
adapted to provide one-button operation for a number of functions.
For example, one button may share information (such as with a
physically closest booth). This may be, for example, the attendee's
personal information or a subset of the attendee's personal
information (e.g., company, position, and work address). One button
may retrieve information, if available from another attendee,
exhibitor, or booth. The retrieved information may include contact
information, white papers, product descriptions, or any other
information. The information may be provided for immediate display
on a device operated by the attendee, or may be stored for later
retrieval by the attendee, or may be automatically forwarded by
electronic mail or the like to an address provided by the attendee.
In one aspect, the information may be added to a post-trade show
mailing using conventional mail techniques.
[0057] In addition to exchanging information among attendees and
exhibitors, the system may support the exchange of information
about exhibitors. For example, an attendee may mark a booth using,
for example, a bookmark-style system, for later retrieval and/or
sharing. The attendee may also, or instead, provide a rating for
the booth using any suitable rating system (e.g., informational
content, entertainment value, relevance, etc.). These ratings may
be shared with other attendees. In one aspect, an attendee may
share ratings with a predetermined group such as a group of
friends, colleagues, peers, or the like.
[0058] The systems and methods described above may provide for
disambiguation of booth selection. For example, where a user action
might apply to more than one booth in near proximity, the
management system 105 may generate an inquiry to the user
requesting an explicit selection from among two or more nearby,
candidate booths. Thus in one aspect there is disclosed herein a
method for tracking attendee interest comprising receiving a
request to mark a booth from an attendee, determining a location of
the attendee, determining a plurality of booths near the attendee,
sending a list of the plurality of booths to the attendee, and
receiving a selection of one of the plurality of booths from the
attendee. The method may further include releasing personal
information from the attendee to an exhibitor at the booth. The
method may further include releasing information from the exhibitor
at the booth to the attendee.
[0059] Thus in an embodiment, the device may include a unique
identification number associated with a registrant of a trade show,
the unique identification number stored in the memory 428, and also
stored in a trade show information management system so that the
device can be associated with a registrant. A positioning system,
such as the location system 402 described above, may determine a
location of the device within the trade show using, for example,
any of the location technologies described above. A wireless
interface such as any of the wireless data interfaces 414 described
above may be adapted to connect the device in a communicating
relationship with the trade show information management system, and
to receive a nearest exhibitor from the trade show information
management system. As described above with reference to step 310 of
FIG. 3 for example, the interface may receive a nearest one of a
plurality of exhibitors at the trade show that is closest to the
device based upon the location of the device.
[0060] One or more buttons may be provided within the user
interface 420 of the device 400 to provide convenient, one-touch
access to commonly used functions. For example, the user interface
420 may include a button that bookmarks the exhibitor for later
reference by the registrant. The button may thus provide one-touch
operation for recording an exhibitor of interest. Information
concerning the exhibitor may be made available on the device 400,
or the bookmark may be stored by the trade show information
management system for later retrieval and review using, e.g., a web
interface or the like. A second button of the user interface 420
may initiate an instruction to the trade show information
management system to share personal information of the registrant
with a nearest exhibitor. A third button of the user interface 420
may initiate an instruction to the trade show information
management system to retrieve information from the nearest
exhibitor. A button may initiate a rating of the nearest exhibitor
and/or transmission of an exhibitor rating to the trade show
information management system. Such ratings may be anonymous, or
may provide information concerning the registrant providing the
rating, subject to any sharing rules for the registrant (as
described generally above) and subject to any explicit override of
same by the registrant when the rating is communicated.
[0061] In another aspect, booth ratings may be aggregated and
shared with all attendees in real time, so that an attendee can
identify popular, interesting, and/or relevant booths while the
show is still in progress (or avoid booths that fare poorly on
these metrics). Ratings may include evaluation using one or more
criteria, as well as comments (which may be anonymous) about
evaluated booths. In addition, attendee booth ratings may be
supplemented, either in a window with other evaluations or in an
adjacent window, with sponsored links to information about various
booths--in this latter system, exhibitors may pay to have booth
information displayed to attendees alongside or along with attendee
booth ratings. It will be understood that booth rating information
may be displayed in a number of forms. For example, booths may be
rated on a single criterion or a combination of criteria for which
rating information is available. The booth ratings may also, or
instead, be sorted or ranked according to physical proximity to the
attendee using, e.g., the location techniques described above. In
one aspect, a report may track which booths are being marked, and
employ this metric (e.g., without evaluating attendee ratings) to
report real-time interest in various booths.
[0062] In one aspect, the management system 105 may process
attendee information along with other information to generate
recommendations. A number of useful recommendation techniques may
be usefully devised using information gathered by the management
system 105 described above.
[0063] In one example, the system may process data such as user
profile information (including explicit preferences therein), user
ratings of booths as generally described above, user booth marking
history, and/or user location data (either historical or current).
The system may generate recommendations that are provided after
completion of the trade show, which may be forwarded to the
attendee through any suitable medium including e-mail and the like.
The system may also, or instead, generate recommendations in real
time or near real time to suggest possible booths of interest to
the attendee. This information may be transmitted to a
location-aware device or consumer device such as any of the devices
described above, and may include text direction or a map
identifying one or more possible booths of interest to the
attendee. In the case of a map, the display may show a portion of
the trade show floor, any useful visual landmarks for navigation,
and a current location of the attendee, along with any other
information to facilitate user navigation to the location of
interest.
[0064] In another aspect, the recommendation system may incorporate
any of the booth rating or other data available from other
attendees when creating recommendations, and may further use
profiling techniques such as similarity of preferences, occupation,
and other demographics when generating recommendations for a
particular attendee.
[0065] In one aspect, the system may generate real-time (or near
real time), location-specific feedback for a user. This may include
recommendations and/or aggregate ratings as described above. More
generally, an attendee's current location may be employed to
provide location-specific data to the attendee.
[0066] For example, an attendee may request directions to a
restroom, a dining area, or an exit. Another user option may
cooperate with the recommendation system by providing, for example,
a one-touch option for the system to show the attendee any nearby
locations that might be of interest (based for example on any of
the recommendation criteria described above). Similarly, the system
may identify and provide directions to a recommended booth, such as
the most book-marked booth at the show, the most highly rated booth
at the show, or a booth or other location identified using the
techniques described above. Optionally, an attendee may specify how
many results to provide. For example, the attendee may request one
result, two results, five results, ten results, and so forth. The
results may be selected and/or ranked according to criteria such as
popularity, attendee profile, predetermined booth selections of the
attendee and the like.
[0067] In another aspect, an attendee may identify booths or
exhibitors of interest prior to a trade show. The system may
automatically display location information (e.g., map, text
directions, address) for a nearest one of these sites, or where the
attendee has prioritized exhibitors/booths, for a highest priority
one of these sites. It will be understood that a trade show
"address" may vary significantly by venue, but would typically
include enough location information (building, row, number, etc.)
to uniquely identify a booth. Where the location-aware device or
consumer device has a built-in compass or similar functionality,
the system may provide user directions through the use of arrows,
text, and the like. For example, a user may hold a display surface
horizontally, and the display may show an arrow for walking
directions, along with distance and the like.
[0068] While the foregoing description emphasizes use of a single,
integrated device for location-based trade show information
management, it will be understood that a supplemental wireless
device may also, or instead, be employed to augment operation of a
cellular phone, wireless e-mail device, iPhone, or other wireless
consumer device within the trade show information management
system.
[0069] For example, in one embodiment, a device includes a unique
identification number associated with a registrant of a trade show
within a trade show information management system, which may be
stored in a memory of the device. The device may also include a
positioning system (such as GPS or any of the other positioning
systems described herein) that determines a location of the device
within the trade show. A short range wireless communications
interface may be employed to couple the device in a communicating
relationship with a cellular communication device of the
registrant, and in operation, a processor may send the unique
identification number and the location to the cellular
communication device over the short range wireless communication
interface for transmission by the cellular communication device to
the trade show information management system using a cellular
infrastructure. Thus, the device may employ the pre-existing,
robust communications provided by a conventional cellular phone,
while adding a location detection system that provides information
used by the system. The communications interface for coupling the
supplemental device to the consumer device may be BlueTooth, a
wired interface, or any other suitable short range interface. In
another aspect, the supplemental device may provide a standard
communications medium for communicating with a trade show
information management system, while using location information
from a registrant's location-enabled device. Thus the device may
include a unique identification number associated with a registrant
of a trade show within a trade show information management system;
a first communication interface adapted to communicate with a
location-enabled consumer device of the registrant; a second
communication interface adapted for wireless communications with a
trade show information management system; and a processor adapted
to retrieve a location from the location-enabled consumer device
over the first communication interface, and to transmit the
location and the unique identification number to the trade show
information management system over the second communication
interface.
[0070] FIG. 5 shows a process for real-time sharing of exhibit
ratings at a trade show. The process 500 may begin 502 be receiving
ratings as shown in step 504. This may include, for example,
ratings of a number of exhibitors from wireless devices such as any
of the wireless devices described above. Ratings may be gathered in
a variety of manners. For example, ratings may be generally
gathered as they are offered by users on an ad hoc basis, or users
may be prompted for ratings on their wireless devices such as at
periodic or random intervals, or upon the occurrence of events such
as when a registrant bookmarks a booth, when a registrant enters a
geofenced area, when a user requests information about an
exhibitor, when a user shares information with an exhibitor, and so
forth, as well as any combination of the foregoing. In addition to
providing rating on an objective scale such as a numeric scale,
registrants may be prompted for comments or other optional inputs
to supplement rating data.
[0071] As shown in step 505, locations of registrants may be
tracked using, e.g., any of the location technologies described
above. Location data may be employed for numerous purposes in the
process 500, such as generating location-specific recommendations
or determining when to request ratings from a registrant. In one
embodiment, location information may be employed to associate a
rating from a registrant (e.g., wireless device) with a nearby
exhibitor.
[0072] As shown in step 506, ratings may be aggregated by the trade
show information management system. This may include calculation of
simple statistics such as an average rating, mean rating, range of
ratings, and so forth, as well as weighting or normalization of
rating data according to ratings from individual registrants,
profiles, demographics, or the like. However calculated, the
ratings may be aggregated to provide at least one aggregated rating
for each exhibitor for which data is available. Aggregated ratings
may also, or instead, include a top rated list of exhibitors, such
as the top ten ranked exhibitors, the top twenty ranked exhibitors,
and so forth. The aggregation may also or instead include ranked
lists for a plurality of different groups based upon, e.g.,
exhibitor type, product type, company size, exhibit content, and so
forth. Thus for example, separate top ten lists (or the like) may
be provided for promotional giveaways, content, movies,
entertainment, trade show discounts, and so forth.
[0073] As shown in step 507, the process 500 may create
recommendations for registrants. This may include, for example,
recommendations based upon a registrant's location, recommendations
based upon profile data for a registrant (such as a user profile
provided during registration, or a user profile created based upon
activities of the registrant), recommendations based upon the
registrant's ratings of various exhibitors, or any other
demographic-based, similarity-based, location-based, or other
criteria, algorithms, or the like. Recommendations may be
transmitted to a registrant on the registrant's wireless device,
and may be accompanied by an alert such as a text message, audible
alert, visual alert, or tactile alert.
[0074] As shown in step 508, ratings may be periodically published.
This may include a variety of publishing mediums. For example,
ratings may be published in real time by transmitting to the
wireless devices of registrants. In another example, ratings may be
published in real time on electronic displays visible throughout a
trade show or at specific locations therein, e.g., nearby an
information booth or display. In other embodiments, ratings may be
published at predetermined intervals such as hourly. In still
further embodiments, ratings may be published on a web site or
within print media after a trade show has concluded, or once a day
during a multi-day trade show. In an embodiment, real-time rating
information may be sold to exhibitors as a premium service during a
trade show, and publicly distributed after the trade show or at
hourly or other intervals.
[0075] Many of the services described above may be enhanced through
the use of physical landmarks. For example, a floor mat having a
distinctive shape, color, picture, or the like may be positioned at
a known location on the trade show floor. Or more generally, a
number of such mats (or stickers, posters, signs, or other visual
cues) may be placed at discrete locations. These visuals may be
distributed so that proximity to a particular one of the marks is
readily discriminated using one or more of the location techniques
described above. With landmarks of this type, any of the
location-related functions described above can be performed with
reference to one of the landmarks rather than a more generalized
attendee location. A process implementing this type of trade show
navigation may begin by asking a user to confirm visibility of
and/or proximity to a particular landmark.
[0076] In another aspect, this visual identification of landmarks
may entirely replace other location services described above so
that location-based functions are provided exclusively with
reference to visually identified landmarks. In another aspect, RFID
or other local geofencing techniques may be employed to
specifically detect an attendee's physical transition into or out
of a relevant location, such as an intersection of two main aisles,
an entrance to or exit from the trade show floor, a dining area,
and so forth.
[0077] Conversely, the system may provide a capability for creating
virtual landmarks. This may be useful, for example, where an
attendee has visually identified a number of booths of interest and
would like to mark a current location (along with any relevant
comments), or where a group of attendees wish to define a
rendezvous location for meeting at a later time.
[0078] FIG. 6 shows a process for augmenting location-based
services of a trade show information management system with
physical landmarks. As shown in step 604, the process 600 may begin
602 by placing physical landmarks within a trade show. This may
include, for example, placing signs, posters, banners, floor mats,
or the like, as well as combinations of these, throughout a trade
show, such as at prominent locations at a venue hosting the trade
show. Each physical landmark may include a unique description or
code for entry by a registrant using a wireless device. In other
embodiments, each physical landmark may have an associated wireless
beacon that can be readily identified, and proximity thereof
measured, by a wireless device. In still other embodiments, an RFID
reader or other device may be employed to capture proximity of a
particular registrant to a particular physical landmark.
[0079] As shown in step 606, a trade show information management
system may receive a request for location-specific information from
a wireless device associated with a registrant of the trade show.
This may include, for example, a request for directions to a
location such as an exhibitor booth or facilities such as a
restroom or restaurant, or a request to display a location of the
wireless device, such as on a map of the trade show.
[0080] As shown in step 608, the trade show information management
system may determine a location of a wireless device operated by
the registrant, such as using any of the location technologies
described herein.
[0081] As shown in step 610, the trade show information management
system may proceed to determine a reference landmark from among the
physical landmarks that were placed about the trade show in step
604. In one embodiment, identifying the reference landmark is
concurrent with determining a location of the device in step 608,
such as where the location is determined by an RFID tag or other
interaction between the reference landmark and the wireless device.
In other embodiments, the process 600 may independently determine a
location of the device, and use this location information to
identify a nearest one of the reference landmarks.
[0082] As shown in step 612, location-specific information may then
be provided to a wireless device. The information may be referenced
to the nearest landmark identified in step 610. Even where the
trade show information management system supports real-time,
continuous, high-resolution location acquisition for wireless
devices of registrants, this approach permits simplification of
responses to registrant queries by allowing all
information-specific information to be referenced to a relatively
small number of landmarks. Thus for example, if there are ten
landmarks at a trade show, ten sets of discrete directions to a
location such as an information booth can be prepared prior to the
trade show and used to provide directions to registrants. In
another embodiment, directions to an end location may be composed
of a series of directions from one physical landmark to another,
followed by directions to a final destination, thus further
reducing the number of separate directions that must be prepared
for a particular trade show.
[0083] Location-specific information may take a variety of forms.
For example, the location-specific information may include
directions from the reference landmark to a particular exhibitor.
The location-specific information may include a list of nearby
exhibitors, which may for example be ranked according to ratings as
described above. Location-specific information may include
directions to a restroom, a dining facility, a rendezvous, a
presentation, an exit, an information booth, a security center, and
so forth.
[0084] The process may then end as shown in step 614.
[0085] In another aspect, the systems and methods described herein
may be adapted to use in a conference environment. It will be
understood that trade shows may include presentations, and that
conferences may include exhibitors, so that the systems and methods
described throughout this disclosure may generally apply to each.
However, it should also be appreciated that trade shows are more
typically oriented toward floor space booth exhibits while
conferences are more typically arranged about a number of scheduled
presentations which may be provided in a number of different tracks
or the like according to subject matter, industry, or the like.
[0086] In a conference, the systems and methods described herein
may be employed to confirm attendance at one or more presentations.
This aspect may be useful where professional education credits
depend upon attendance. In one aspect, attendance at presentations
may be converted into points that an attendee can apply toward
professional continuing education credits. This may be useful for
any of a number of professions that require or recommend continuing
education such as accountants, doctors, lawyers, engineers,
information technology professions, and so forth. Points may also,
or instead, be exchanged for rewards such as travel discounts,
store credits, and the like. In one aspect, a professional
organization may sponsor the distribution of location-aware devices
at a conference in order to track and distribute continuing
education credits.
[0087] Other related matters such as average stay at a particular
presentation, switching between presentations or tracks, or the
like may also be measured based upon participant location. Further,
the systems and methods described herein may support real time
polling and feedback, which may be employed to evaluate user
presentations, or may be provided directly to presenters to track
audience interest, questions, and the like. In addition, speakers
may be marked using the booth marking techniques described herein.
This may include, for example, disambiguation among a number of
speakers on a panel, requests for related information, or
transmission of messages such as a text question directly to a
speaker. In addition, where a presentation is recorded, or where a
presentation is organized by an outline, slides, multimedia, or the
like, an attendee may mark a particular portion of the presentation
for later retrieval or other use. This may include a request for a
particular slide, a slide deck, a copy of a handout or a portion
thereof, speaker biographical information, speaker contact
information, and so forth.
[0088] The data above may also be employed for organizing future
conferences, such as by identifying popular speakers, popular
tracks, popular presentations, and so forth. This may assist
conference organizers in selecting subject matter and presenters at
future conferences. In addition, the collected data may be employed
to evaluate a level of interest in particular content (e.g., by
attendee evaluations, number of attendees, etc.) across a series of
conferences, which may be used in turn to adapt content to attendee
interest for future conferences.
[0089] Other data may also be obtained. For example where an event
includes a trade show floor and conference(s), popularity of
presentations may be tracked according to time of day, and
presentation schedules may be dynamically adjusted to either
increase or decrease floor attendance, or otherwise balance
attendee traffic.
[0090] In one aspect, location-based attendee data may be used to
support location-based advertising. For example, in addition to (or
instead of) tracking proximity to booths, the management system 105
may be employed to monitor proximity to advertisements and/or
marketing material. Trade shows traditionally sell sponsorships
which may be realized as signage such as hanging signs, standalone
sign boards, billboards, banners, and so forth. These may contain
show-specific information (e.g., visit company x at booth 555) or
more general product, service or marketing information. Using the
systems and methods disclosed herein, actual advertising
impressions for these signs may be measured.
[0091] Impressions or viewership of a sign may be measured in a
number of different ways. For example, a sign may be geofenced by
defining a space around the sign where it can be viewed. While this
may be two-dimensional, it may also be a three-dimensional space
including stairs, escalators, windowed elevators, mezzanines,
elevated walkways, and so forth. Within the designated viewing
area, impressions may be measured as a number of unique
impressions, or on an attendee-by-attendee basis, and may include
data such as duration within the viewing area, time of day, number
of visits, and so forth. In one aspect, an attendee may use a
location-aware or consumer device to request additional information
concerning a sign. This may include, for example, additional
written or electronic materials, directions to a booth, and so
forth. This indication of interest may also be used in general
interest or impression calculations for the sign. In one aspect,
the system may disambiguate such requests as generally described
above, such as by presenting a number of different signs that are
visible from a user location, and asking the user to specify one
sign for which additional information is being requested. The
system may also permit marking of signs in the same or a similar
manner as described above for booths, which may also be interpreted
as a measure of interest.
[0092] The system may also, or instead, be employed to track
interest in presentations. This may include, for example number of
attendees at a general session and one or more targeted sessions,
along with duration of attendance and the like.
[0093] Impression data may be employed to more accurately price
future signage, to measure the effectiveness of signage (such as by
correlating advertisement impressions to booth or presentation
visits), or to charge impression-based fees for signage.
[0094] In another aspect, the signage, which may be electronic
signage, may change according to profile information or other data
concerning attendees within a viewing area for the signage. This
dynamic signage may use a number of different techniques. For
example, the signage may select a display according to attendee
data. In another aspect, the signage may change to a new display
when all or most of the attendees within the viewing area have been
within the viewing area for a predetermined time. The signage may
change among a number of different displays for a particular
advertiser, sponsor, or the like, or the signage may change to
displays for different advertisers.
[0095] FIG. 7 shows a process for advertising based on viewer
locations. The process 700 may begin 702 by placing a display at a
location at a trade show as shown in step 704. The display may be
any suitable display technology including a television, computer
display, flat-panel television, scrolling LED banner, projector
(and accompanying projection surface) and so forth. Other displays
such as illuminated waterfalls, color-changing wall panels,
electronic paper, holographs, and the like are also known and may
be suitably adapted to use in the process 700 described herein. The
display may be placed at any suitable location including on a wall,
a ceilings, a floor, a staircase or staircase risers, in an alcove,
on a pedestal at a suitable floor location, or suspended or
otherwise physically mounted in permanent or movable fashion at any
suitable, visible location. In one aspect, the display may be an
active display that can be changed and/or controlled dynamically.
In another aspect, the display may include any form of fixed
signage or the like. Whatever the form, the display may be used to
show advertisements, information, announcements, and so forth.
[0096] As shown in step 706, a viewing area may then be established
for the display. Numerous factors may be considered when
establishing a viewing area including crowd locations, foot
traffic, display height, display size, display content, and so
forth. In one aspect, establishing a viewing area may be partially
or fully automated by providing a location system that can
determine location and orientation of the display and applying a
predetermined viewing area on that basis. In another aspect, the
viewing area may be manually marked using a wireless,
location-enabled device to physically mark a number of perimeter
locations of a desired viewing area. In another aspect, the viewing
area may be marked on a map or other electronic display of the
trade show floor. However the viewing area is established
physically, this data may then be correlated to the trade show
floor by storing the perimeter information (or other information
characterizing the viewing area) in the trade show information
management system.
[0097] As shown in step 708, the process 700 may determine a
location of a number of wireless devices, such as any of the
devices described above.
[0098] As shown in step 710, the process 700 may detect impressions
of the display. This may be measured in a variety of manners using
device locations in combination with the viewing area for the
display. For example, an impression of the display--i.e., a
determination that the display has been viewed--may be detected
based upon a duration that one of the located wireless devices
remains within the viewing area of the display. This detection may
be refined, such as by detecting a path of the device and
determining whether the device stops moving while within the
viewing area. In other embodiments, the viewing area may include a
probability map or the like that indicates, based on position
within the viewing area, what the probability is that a registrant
is actually viewing the display. In other embodiments, the process
700 may detect unique impressions by determining whether a
particular impression is associated with a device that has already
been detected as an impression one or more previous times.
[0099] As shown in step 712, the process 700 may evaluate a viewing
audience. This may include, for example, aggregating profile data,
personal information, exhibitor ratings, preferences, and the like
for a group of devices currently within the viewing area 706, which
may be retrieved from the wireless devices, from the trade show
information management system or otherwise obtained or derived from
available data.
[0100] As shown in step 714, the display may be changed according
to the viewing audience. This may include, for example,
electronically changing the display to render an advertisement
targeted to an aggregate profile of the viewing audience, or
otherwise selected according to the viewing audience.
[0101] As shown in step 716, the process 700 may end.
[0102] In one aspect, attendees at a trade show may employ the
systems and methods described herein to plan a trade show visit. An
attendee may, for example, identify a list of preferred exhibitors
to visit before a show, such as through a web site. This planning
may also be performed at the show on a location-aware or consumer
device. The management system 105 may then assist the attendee in
navigating through the trade show consistent with the list of
identified exhibitors.
[0103] The list may be prioritized either by explicit rating, by
scoring, by categorization (preferred, required, etc.). The
management system 105 may plan a single path through the trade
show, or may provide incremental suggestions. For example, the
system may generate an alert when the attendee is near a particular
exhibitor on the attendee's list, and may provide directions to the
desired booth. As another example, the system may periodically
identify a number of predetermined booths that are nearby (e.g.,
within a predetermined range). This information may be provided,
for example, upon a fixed time interval, or when the attendee
passes specific locations, such as an intersection of two main
aisles of the trade show floor. The system may also, or instead,
respond to an attendee-initiated request to identify nearby booths
on the attendee's list. The system may also, or instead, provide
adaptive route planning, such as by identifying sites of interest
to the attendee that have not yet been visited, and optionally
providing directions along a route that passes each of these
booths. In some embodiments, the system may create time-based
alerts, such as that a limited amount of time remains in the show.
Such alerts may analyze data such as the amount of time the
attendee has spent at other booths, the physical location of the
remaining booths, and the like, so that this alert can be timed to
reach the attendee while there is still sufficient time remaining
to see some or all of the remaining booths on the attendee's
list.
[0104] It will be appreciated that the systems and methods
described herein may generally operate to combine attendee-provided
data, exhibitor-provided data (such as presentation subject matter,
company description, products, etc.), and a history of location
data for each attendee. This data store provides rich opportunities
to improve trade show experiences for all parties, and to monetize
trade show data.
[0105] In one aspect comparative or absolute interest in companies,
products, technologies, and the like may be explicitly gathered
(such as through attendee ratings) and/or inferred (such as through
attendee traffic patterns, time-of-stay at various booths, etc.)
from data acquired through the management system 105. This data may
be depersonalized as appropriate and sold directly to trade
journals, industry analysts, companies, consultants, and the like.
In one aspect, individual exhibitors may obtain comparative or
absolute interest data for their booths. This subset of data may be
provided free to exhibitors, as a value-added service, or as an
incentive to sponsor distribution of the location-aware devices at
the trade show. In addition, exhibitors may receive full data for
all exhibitors, or for a subset of exhibitors such as direct
competitors. In one aspect, aggregate interest level data may be
provided at one fee level, while detailed comparative data,
attendee comments, and the like may be provided at one or more
premium fee levels.
[0106] In another use of location-based trade show data, data from
individual attendees may be employed (in particular where attendees
have offered personal data as described above) to design
promotional campaigns for exhibitors, which may be specifically
targeted based on data provided by attendees.
[0107] It is known in the trade show industry that booths adjacent
to popular booths are more valuable. So for example, where an
industry leader obtains an oversized booth, or a booth at a
prominent floor location, it is common to charge more for
surrounding booths. While this ad hoc process generally seeks to
extract value from high traffic areas of a trade show floor, it is
at best loosely quantified. Using the techniques described herein,
attendee traffic can be accurately measured at one trade show, and
this data can be used to more accurately price booth locations at
future trade shows in the same or closely related industries. Thus
there is disclosed herein a system for pricing booths based upon
conventional constraints (size, location, etc.), and based upon the
location and identity of exhibitors that have already secured floor
space, using historical interest in these exhibitors as a proxy for
anticipated foot traffic.
[0108] It will be appreciated that the systems and methods
described herein may be realized in hardware, software, or any
combination of these suitable for a particular application. The
hardware may include a general purpose computer and/or dedicated
computing device. The processes may be realized in one or more
microprocessors, microcontrollers, embedded microcontrollers,
programmable digital signal processors or other programmable
device, along with internal and/or external memory. The processes
may also, or instead, be embodied in an application specific
integrated circuit, a programmable gate array, programmable array
logic, or any other device that may be configured to process
electronic signals. It will further be appreciated that the process
may be realized as computer executable code embodied on a computer
readable medium that, when executing on one or more computing
devices, performs the recited steps. The computer executable code
may, for example, be created using a structured programming
language such as C, an object oriented programming language such as
C++, or any other high-level or low-level programming language
(including assembly languages, hardware description languages, and
database programming languages and technologies) that may be
stored, compiled or interpreted to run on one or more of the above
devices, as well as heterogeneous combinations of processors,
processor architectures, or combinations of different hardware and
software. At the same time, processing may be distributed across a
number of different computing devices in a number of ways, or all
of the functionality may be integrated into a dedicated, standalone
device or other hardware. All such permutations and combinations
are intended to fall within the scope of the present
disclosure.
[0109] It should also be understood that the processes depicted and
described above are examples only, and that numerous variations to
any of the foregoing are possible including the addition of steps
that are not depicted, the removal of steps that are depicted, and
the rearrangement of depicted steps, as well as combination of
steps depicted in any or all of the foregoing. In addition while
each process is depicted as a discrete process flow, each process
may be repeated numerous times, either synchronously or
asynchronously in any number of combinations suitable to a
particular application without departing from the spirit and scope
of this disclosure.
[0110] Thus, while the invention has been described in connection
with certain preferred embodiments, other embodiments that would be
readily appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art are
intended to fall within the scope of this disclosure. Accordingly,
the following claims should not be limited to the specific
embodiments described above, but should be afforded the broadest
interpretation allowable by law.
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